Ascent Trip Report

I approached NopaH using the DPS Guide off of Hwy 178. There is a maze of roads in this area and it could be a mud bog if wet. Where the DPS guide says to park, I turned right on a good road that parallels the wilderness boundary and continued another .25 mile and then parked.

I got to the trailhead at first light and quickly packed up and headed across the desert to the canyon where Route A begins. It is easy hiking across the desert and I made good time. When I got to the canyon I went into the wash and hiked up the wash about .5 mile to where the Class 3 section of the Route A Variation begins. The first part is an easy climb up the dry waterfall and then just above that is the headwall. I went to the right as the guide said and climbed up about half way. Here I goofed and continued up to the right. I got up to a boxed in little area where there was no more Class 3, so I carefully down climbed back to the half way point and then went left. I climbed up about 8 ft and could see a cairn above me. I was back on track, so I continued. I came up to another dry water fall that split left and right. The right side is blocked with a big chockstone, so I had to go up the left side a little and then climb on good rock around the chockstone.

From there to the summit ridge it was a long slog of follwing the drainage, bushwhacking, rock hopping, and route finding. When I finally reached the ridge, I was ready to be done with the hike and determined to find a differnet way down rather than down climbing what I just came up. The ridge line to the summit is easy to follow broad rolling hills that get increasingly steep as you approach the summmit. The summit is hidden behind a peak at about 5800 ft, but it soon came into view. Great views from the summit.

On the way down I decided to take the DPS Route B option. This was an easy hike down to about 4400 ft and then the rocky ridgeline down to the desert required some route finding. It is steep and I was slow and tired. Eventually I reached the desert, looked for a GPS heading to my truck and took a beeline home. The sun was getting low on the horizon, so I kept a good pace across the desert arriving just after sunset with a little twilight remaining.

Long hike, fun scramble, lots of route finding problems.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

4300 ft / 1310 m

Elevation Loss:

4300 ft / 1310 m

Distance:

11.9 mi / 19.1 km

Grade/Class:

Class 3

Route Conditions:

Open Country, Bushwhack, Scramble

Ascent Statistics

Elevation Gain:

4300 ft / 1310 m

Distance:

5.8 mi / 9.3 km

Route:

DPS Route A Variation

Trailhead:

2094 ft / 638 m

Descent Statistics

Elevation Loss:

4300 ft / 1310 m

Distance:

6.1 mi / 9.8 km

Route:

DPS Route A Variation

Trailhead:

2094 ft / 638 m

GPS Data for Ascent/Trip

GPS Waypoints - Hover or click to see name and lat/longPeaks: climbed and unclimbed by Dennis PoulinClick Here for a Full Screen MapNote: GPS Tracks may not be accurate, and may not show the best route. Do not follow this route blindly. Conditions change frequently. Use of a GPS unit in the outdoors, even with a pre-loaded track, is no substitute for experience and good judgment. Peakbagger.com accepts NO resposibility or liability from use of this data.